Chicken Broccolini Congee

Short grain rice cooked in chicken broth with ginger, chicken, and broccolini until thick and creamy. This chicken broccolini congee is a modern twist to a traditional Asian comfort food.

Happy Mother’s Day!

What plans do you have to celebrate? Brunch? Lunch? Dinner? Flowers? Chocolates? Edible arrangements? I would love to hear your plans!

This year, Mother’s Day is, and I’m sure other holidays will also be later on, difficult for our family. Every year, on Mother’s Day, my family visits our grandma and we all go out for a family dinner. But this year, after losing our grandma just a few months ago, it’s been hard to find a new normalcy, especially since all the holidays and major events revolved around her.

So today, I wanted to dedicate this recipe and post to my grandma, who my sisters, cousins, and I affectionately (and secretly) refer to as our “Gma.”

Have you ever had congee? It’s basically rice cooked in either water or broth until it’s relatively thick and pudding like. Sometimes it cooked plain and eaten with other side dishes. Other times, it’s cooked with meat and vegetables and seasoned with fish sauce or salt. It’s a warm and comforting dish, perfect for those days when you’re feeling a little under the weather. But it’s also great for breakfast.

And it’s one of those dishes that my grandma ate often.

In my version of congee, I wanted something simple and used ingredients I already had in the fridge. In this case, chicken and broccolini. You can use other ingredients that you have on hand if you like.

A couple of tips:

When making congee, my family prefers to use shorter grain rice, like Calrose. Basically, you’re looking for rice grains that are used to make sushi rice. If you use shorter grains, it’s starchier and creates a smoother congee. But if you don’t have short grain rice like Calrose, you can use jasmine rice too.

Kind of like oatmeal, you can have the congee very thick or more liquidy. It’s really up to you how you make it. It depends on what sort of texture you like. I prefer mine a little more on the liquidy side.

The longer you cook the congee, the more the rice grains dissolves. So depending on how you like the consistency of your congee, you can cook the congee for a shorter amount of time or a longer amount of time.

If you like ginger, you can shred the ginger so that it dissolves into the congee. If you don’t like ginger as much, you can leave them in bigger pieces so you can easily take them out later.

Ready to make this Asian comfort food?

First, rinse the rice through a strainer. The water running off will look milky and after a couple of washes appear more clear.

Place the rice in a medium sized pot, and add chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Allow the congee to cook for about 15 minutes before adding the fish sauce, salt, ginger, and sugar. Cook for an additional 10 to 15minutes until the congee has thickened and appear pudding like.

Now, stir in the shredded chicken, broccolini, and raw egg. Stir to evenly incorporate all the ingredients. Cook for an additional 10 minutes until the egg appears like silky threads and the broccolini is tender. Stir in chili paste if desired.

Remove the congee from heat, and let it cool for a few minutes.

Serve the chicken broccolini congree with garnishes like cilantro, basil, or Sambal oelek chili paste.

Enjoy!

Chicken Broccolini Congee

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Short grain rice cooked in broth with ginger, chicken, and broccolini until thick and creamy. This chicken broccolini congee is a modern twist to a traditional Asian comfort food.

Author: Andrea Giang

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 3-4 servings

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup uncooked short grain rice
• 5 cups chicken broth
• ½ cup water
• 1½ teaspoon fish sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 quarter size pieces of ginger with skin peeled
• ½ teaspoon brown sugar
• ½ cup shredded chicken
• ½ chopped broccolini
• 1 large egg, cracked
• 1 teaspoon Sambal Oelek chili paste (optional)

Garnishes

• Cilantro
• Sliced red chili pepper
• Sliced jalapeno
• Basil
• Bean Sprouts

Directions:

1. First, rinse the rice through a strainer. The water running off will look milky and after a couple of washes appear more clear.
2. Place the rice in a medium sized pot, and add chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Allow the congee to cook for about 15 minutes before adding the fish sauce, salt, ginger, and sugar. Cook for an additional 10 to 15minutes until the congee has thickened and appear pudding like.
3. Now, stir in the shredded chicken, broccolini, and raw egg. Stir to evenly incorporate all the ingredients. Cook for an additional 10 minutes until the egg appears like silky threads and the broccolini is tender. Stir in chili paste if desired.
4. Remove the congee from heat, and let it cool for a few minutes.
5. Serve the chicken broccolini congree with garnishes like cilantro, basil, or Sambal oelek chili paste.

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